Democrats Succeed in Passing Legislation but Fail at Reforming Healthcare

Statement of former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY)

Contact: Chris Barron
(202) 286-4533

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Democratic healthcare “reform” legislation. In response, former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman of the Board of Republican Main Street Partnership, issued the following statement:

“Today Democrats can celebrate a political victory – by a razor thin margin, they have passed their healthcare ‘reform’ legislation. Unfortunately, for the American people, there is little to celebrate.

“From the very beginning of this debate, Democratic leadership chose to eschew bipartisanship in favor of election year partisan politics. This debate has never been about what will make quality, affordable healthcare available to more Americans. Instead, it’s been about partisan politics, back room deals, handouts to special interests, and parliamentary parlor tricks.

“Had the Democratic leadership been serious about passing meaningful healthcare reform, they could have worked to forge a common-sense compromise by engaging centrists on both sides of the aisle.

“We are hopeful that the next Congress can unwind the damage done to our healthcare system by this legislation and build a bipartisan coalition that can pass real healthcare reform – reform that will lower healthcare costs, improve quality, expand coverage and do so without bankrupting our country.

Last year, Main Street laid out 10 principles for bipartisan healthcare reform. While this list is not exhaustive, we do believe it establishes a framework on which a common-sense compromise can be forged. We look forward to working with a new Congress to pass legislation that reflects these principles.”

PROPOSED PRINCIPLES FOR REFORM:

Preserve, protect and strengthen the private system of healthcare and the private system of health insurance. To do so, we must oppose any proposal that provides for a “government option.”

Shift our emphasis from the current “treatment paradigm” to one that focuses on the prevention of illness and disease.

Work to lower healthcare costs across the system. We should make lowering the cost of healthcare a priority.

Eliminate fraud and waste in both the public and private healthcare systems. Fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid systems alone costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

Enact meaningful tort reform that protects patients but at the same time ends the abuse of frivolous lawsuits brought by unscrupulous trial lawyers. The current system fails both patients and providers.

Harness 21st century technologies and innovation. Health information technology, for example, can save money and save lives.

Encourage cutting edge research and the development of new life-saving and life-extending treatments by updating the research and development tax credit and making it permanent.

Empower individuals to have more control over their healthcare decisions.

Encourage competition across the healthcare system to help lower costs and improve quality of care.

Prioritize federal healthcare dollars – eliminate wasteful, inefficient or unrelated spending in Healthcare Appropriations bills.

The Republican Main Street Partnership (RMSP) is dedicated to promoting and building a pragmatic, thoughtful, fiscally conservative, and inclusive “Governing Majority,” where political debate is encouraged to promote solutions to improve the lives of all Americans. Embracing the full spectrum of center-right ideologies and values in order to build coalitions, RMSP is the largest organization of elected leaders who are in the mold of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. For more information on RMSP, visit our website at www.republicanmainstreet.org.